While the Wii Balance Board's usefulness as a fitness device are questionable, there's no doubts over its ability to perform as a...rehabilitative "force platform".

That's a device used by doctors to measure the balance of a person recovering from a stroke (or similar injury), employed when the patient is "relearning" how to walk.

While lab-grade devices normally cost around $20,000, researchers from the University of Melbourne have torn apart the humble Wii Balance Board, tested its guts and found that Nintendo's peripheral is almost as good as the expensive stuff.

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"We found the data to be excellent", Uni of Melbourne's Ross Clark told New Scientist. "I was shocked given the price: it was an extremely impressive strain gauge set-up."

So impressive that Clark and his colleagues wrote up a paper singing the Balance Board's praises, recommending it as a low-cost replacement for the costlier, dedicated "force platforms".